The current economic environment has forced wealthy families to re-think how they manage their assets, with many turning to single or multi-family offices as a way of handling this.

Whether the purpose is to optimise investment holding structures and governance, or monitor property and investment portfolios, or actively manage operating businesses in one or more countries, it is critical that a family office is established and governed properly to run efficiently and effectively.

We can help advise you, as a family, or your nominated adviser, on the most appropriate structure for your family office and have extensive experience in navigating through the complexities and multi-jurisdictional challenges faced by family offices and the families they represent. These include intergenerational succession planning, tax efficient holding structuring and wealth protection through the use of international corporate, partnership, fund and trust structures.

Depending on the activities of your family office, we can advise on the sale and acquisition of personal and commercial assets, regulatory issues, the operation of asset holding and investment structures, including those involving real estate or private equity investments, co-investment agreements and all employment and immigration issues relating to both the family and the family office. Our litigation team are able to advise you on any dispute issues that may arise in relation to any aspect of your family office’s activities as well as a reputation management team that can assist with PR issues.

Your tax status may change over time, as may tax rules. This reinforces the need for an integrated international approach.

For more information about how we are guiding families through these decisions and wider conversations around family governance, please visit our crisis management and family governance section of our COVID-19 hub page.